August is Women in Translation month (aka #WiTMonth), which I am a big fan of, so I meant to only post about books in translation by women, or translated by women, but I also have a bit of a backlog of books I’m finished and haven’t written about so best laid plans, etc.
I bought Home Fire maybe two years ago and was saving it for myself as a special treat, because I somehow knew that I would love it, and I very much did. I absolutely tore through it, reading most of it on a flight and the rest on the metro the next day. It’s so good. It’s like my Platonic ideal of airplane reads, in that it’s utterly absorbing, smart and complex, but also not mentally taxing. Much like Antigone, the issues are laid out in a fairly straightforward way, but they do not admit of any simple resolution. Everyone is both deeply flawed and profoundly sympathetic. There’s no good way out. But it’s also really moving and beautiful.
You don’t need to be familiar with Antigone to enjoy the novel, but it’s incredibly rewarding if you are, because the adaptation is brilliant, and marvelously well done. Shamsie sets the story in a South Asian Muslim community in contemporary London, amidst the contemporary War on Terror. It’s a really nuanced portrayal of Muslim identity and pressures of assimilation (in the UK and the US), and also a really wonderful story of family bonds and love. A terrific novel.
Kasia Reads 